Fallout 3 Impressions and Opinions

[Vympel]

I think caravans can get wiped out. At Cantebury Commons I was investing caps with Ernest Roe (you need a high barter skill to do this in conversation) to give to the various merchants so that they'd have a better selection (I need more .44 magnum rounds for Lincoln's Repeater) - when I got to Doc Hoff (stims and food) he said something very different - that he hadn't been around for some time. I took that to mean he was dead. Perhaps the Enclave got him.

[White Haven]

Uh....I murdered the entire clan without saying a word, and Arefu didn't flip its lid. Did you nail Ian too? If so, that's probably the trigger, because I left him alive. That's not to say that that's not SHITTY work on Bethesda's part, and fuck telepathic panopticon NPCs.

[Vympel]

For those who did the "Stealing Independence" quest, if you're not aware, you can find out what happened to Sydney's father - you'll find a skeleton in the hotel that Reilly's Rangers are holed up in (unique Combat Armor as a reward for that quest) - next to it will be a recording from her father. Tell her about it (you'll only know she's his daughter after the quest) and she'll give you her "Ultra" 10mm SMG - 62 damage.

[Vendetta]

Alternatively, be a bit slack in helping her during Stealing Independence, and she'll probably snuff it, at which point you can snaffle the gun, which is the best Small Guns weapon in the game. (as much stopping power as the combat shotgun but far lower AP usage, and raiders relatively frequently have 10mm SMGs to repair it with).

Also, Sydney will actually follow you everywhere as long as you don't complete Stealing Independence, so she can be a pseudo-companion (she doesn't get the free heal between fights, you have to heal her with stimpacks, and you can't change her gear).

(In fact, for my character, Sydney's SMG was the most devastating weapon in the game, simply because it's high damage and with the Ranger Combat Armour's +5 AP I could get four shots out of it in VATS)

[Pablo Sanchez]

Uh....I murdered the entire clan without saying a word, and Arefu didn't flip its lid. Did you nail Ian too? If so, that's probably the trigger, because I left him alive. That's not to say that that's not SHITTY work on Bethesda's part, and fuck telepathic panopticon NPCs.

Ian attacked me because I laughed about Vance being dead. I went back to Arefu expecting that I'd be allowed to just baldfaced lie about what happened, "oh yeah the family was evil cannibals and they killed Ian, but I got 'em for you" as would actually have made sense. But instead I got back and the whole village was hostile to me. I want to play an evil character, but not a completely banal "rar I kill everybody!" berserker.

Oh well, the character build wasn't working that well anyway, because I was melee focused and it bothers me getting shot like fifty times just to get near a guy so I can kill him with a bat.

[Vympel]

Oh well, the character build wasn't working that well anyway, because I was melee focused and it bothers me getting shot like fifty times just to get near a guy so I can kill him with a bat.

Well that'd be a case of art imitating life then. Except for the ... not dying part.

The Xuanlong Assault Rifle is supposed to be got from the Jury Street Station Metro (the Diner) but apparently you have to jump through hoops to get it.

Also, why does the Enclave have pet Deathclaws? Motherfuckers ...

[Vendetta]

Uh....I murdered the entire clan without saying a word, and Arefu didn't flip its lid. Did you nail Ian too? If so, that's probably the trigger, because I left him alive. That's not to say that that's not SHITTY work on Bethesda's part, and fuck telepathic panopticon NPCs.

I've discovered why this happens.

If you kill any member of the Family after Ian decides whether to stay or go back, Arefu will go hostile.

So, if you want to kill the pretentious cunts, make sure to get them all, including the gate guard out in the adjacent area (which is the one likely to cause this, if you bypassed him on the way in and started your rampage inside their base, capping him on the way out)

[Crazy_Vasey]

I think caravans can get wiped out. At Cantebury Commons I was investing caps with Ernest Roe (you need a high barter skill to do this in conversation) to give to the various merchants so that they'd have a better selection (I need more .44 magnum rounds for Lincoln's Repeater) - when I got to Doc Hoff (stims and food) he said something very different - that he hadn't been around for some time. I took that to mean he was dead. Perhaps the Enclave got him.

Yeah, caravans can get wiped out. The gun-runner guy got wiped right in front of me when I walked out of the Megaton gates, and that was that. No respawn, no replacement, just gone.

[Karza]

I've discovered why this happens.

If you kill any member of the Family after Ian decides whether to stay or go back, Arefu will go hostile.

So, if you want to kill the pretentious cunts, make sure to get them all, including the gate guard out in the adjacent area (which is the one likely to cause this, if you bypassed him on the way in and started your rampage inside their base, capping him on the way out)

Yep, this is exactly what happened to me. In the end I had to just run past the gate guard and take a few bullets in the ass, because apparently the last wannabe-vampire is now telepathic best buddies with Arefu. Took me a moment to figure out just what the fuck was Arefu getting pissed off about.

The lone "vampire" is still there. I probably should go and kill him, it's not like Arefu is worth shit anyway .

[Stark]

The quest/NPC triggers on events are so laughably primitive I'm surprised there isn't more talk of it here. Unless something you do keys directly to an NPC reaction flag, nobody anywhere cares. This, combined with the ridiculously limited dialog options, means some truly surreal conversations can be had about problems already solved by people already dead to shit that doesn't exist.

[Chardok]

For instance - I DO NOT HAVE THE OPTION TO TELL THE MAYOR TO OPEN THE BACK GATE DADGUMMIT- EVEN AFTER I RESCUED THEIR SNOT NOSED FRIENDS FROM THE EFFING SLAVERS

[Stark]

Yeah, I did LL way before I needed to go to 87, and the gate's there, people say 'yeah ask the mayor', I know there's a vault down there, but you can't do it till the main quest catches up. That's stupid crap. You also can't just untie the pulley cables and do it yourself. I never got the fungus:buffout deal either, because I was told the mayor would negotiate but he fucking won't there's no dialog options.

FREEFORM GAME 10/10

Frankly, the fact I can't tell Three Dog 'no you're going to tell me where my dad is or I'm going to shoot you in the dick, slaughter these BoS idiots and then shoot you in the dick again, fuck you and your stupid dish fedex quest you fucking cockface, I'm a mass murderder' is bad enough, without actual dialog bugs like the above.

[GuppyShark]

That annoyed the hell out of me with the guy in Megaton whose name I forget.

"The sherrif's dead, nobody can stop me capping your ass right now if you don't tell me where my Dad went." was sadly not a dialogue option.

[Jaevric]

I hate to ask this, but where is the Family for the Blood Ties quest? I'm tired of looking for these jokers, I was told by the ghoul that sells Ultrajet that there's a passageway to their hideout in that abandoned metro station, but I cannot find any passageway down there or find the hideout going overland.

[Vendetta]

There's one entrance in the sideroom next to the two ghouls, a manhole cover half hidden by some drums of goo, and if you walk north from their location on the worldmap you should find Meresti Trainyard, which is a more direct entrance to their hideout.

[Jaevric]

There's one entrance in the sideroom next to the two ghouls, a manhole cover half hidden by some drums of goo, and if you walk north from their location on the worldmap you should find Meresti Trainyard, which is a more direct entrance to their hideout.

North? They said it was east of...bah. Okay thanks. Yeah I backed away from the drums of radioactive goo very quickly, which I suppose was a mistake.

Good, soon as I get off of work I'm gonna go get some a mini-nuke out of my locker and demonstrate my severe annoyance with these bozos.

Thanks.

[Ryan Thunder]

That annoyed the hell out of me with the guy in Megaton whose name I forget.

"The sherrif's dead, nobody can stop me capping your ass right now if you don't tell me where my Dad went." was sadly not a dialogue option.

I would have liked it much more if people besides Tenpenny reacted to me talking to them with a Zhu Rong pointed at their forehead...

[Vympel]

MOTHERFUCKING SHIT FUCK FUCK SHIT FUCK!

My quicksave got corrupted. Lost 1.5 hours of play (the autosave was corrupted as well).

[charlemagne]

MOTHERFUCKING SHIT FUCK FUCK SHIT FUCK!

My quicksave got corrupted. Lost 1.5 hours of play (the autosave was corrupted as well).

Yeah, that's what this engine was infamous for with Oblivion already. Only keeping one save is always a bad idea Gotta see the good of it: you'll never forget to make prover saves once in a while from now on

[Vympel]

Luckily I had made a proper save 1.5 hours before - I had just done the Yao Gai Tunnels to get a Bobble-Head, and saved it. Then I went to Evergreen Mills and cleaned it out to get another, then went back to Megaton, made a Railway Rifle (hilarious weapon) and then went to Tenpenny Towers again to speak to the residents - I didn't know "Daring" Dashwood was even a real person. I then went to try and find Rockopolis - and it crashed upon leaving the Towers, losing my quicksave and autosave in the process.

So back to Yao Gai Tunnels. This time made the Railway Rifle first, then went to Evergreen Mills, which is where I am now.

*sigh* fuck.

It sucks that you can do the Ghoul quest for Tenpenny Towers (I elected to kill the ghouls, their being no better than the residents and you don't take a karma hit) and then kill Tenpenny (part of the "You Gotta Shoot Em in the Head" quest where you get the T-51b Power Armor from Fort Constantine) and noone in the Tower appears to notice that this has happened. You'd figure someone would've found his headless body on the verandah by now.

[charlemagne]

It sucks that you can do the Ghoul quest for Tenpenny Towers (I elected to kill the ghouls, their being no better than the residents and you don't take a karma hit) and then kill Tenpenny (part of the "You Gotta Shoot Em in the Head" quest where you get the T-51b Power Armor from Fort Constantine) and noone in the Tower appears to notice that this has happened. You'd figure someone would've found his headless body on the verandah by now.

Yeah, the only reaction to killing Tenpenny is that his security chief says he's the one in charge now. That's it, and it sucks.

[Vympel]

Oh? Mine must be bugged then. All Chief Gustavo mentions is my killing the ghouls that wanted to get into the Tower.

It went like this:-

1. Kill Ghouls for Chief Gustavo;
2. Kill Alistair Tenpenny for Mr Crowley in The Underground (but not give him the other keys, which I used myself to get the T-51b power armor);
3. Go back to Tenpenny tower - no reaction from anyone to indicate that Tenpenny is - you know- dead.

* That includes going to speak to "Daring" Dashwood in his room - there's supposed to be a reward for finding Argyle's body in what's left of Rockopolis, but he says nothing except killing the ghouls.

Maybe I was supposed to 2 and 3 before 1, but looks like they assumed it would be done one way, and got sloppy.

[charlemagne]

Oh? Mine must be bugged then. All Chief Gustavo mentions is my killing the ghouls that wanted to get into the Tower.

When he said it to me, I was still trying to convince the residents of Tenpenny's Tower to let the Ghouls in peacefully. He said "I'm in charge now, and I hate Ghouls, so not gonna happen."

[White Haven]

Heh, I didn't have a quest to kill Tenpenny, I did it of my own volition because he tried to hire me to blow up Megaton. That was, for me, enough. Cold-blooded killer with more positive karma than God.

[Vympel]

Go see Mr Crowley in the Underworld in any event - he'll want you to collect some keys that you can use to get the only set of T-51b Power Armor in the game.